Cunning Single Lady / Sly and Single Again - Episode 6 (WookiCap)

This episode brings the awaited and necessary moment of truth. No longer in the mood to hurt each other given a real-world crisis that both touches Ae-ra's family and his company at the same time, Ae-ra and Jung-woo get an emotionally loaded moment to express their hurts and grievances with each other. We also see how much in love Second Lead really is with Jung-woo and how fast her brother is falling in love as well. This is a very strong episode - though it comes with a different timbre that is much more sombre than the silliness we had before.

Episode 6

Jung-woo and Second Lead sing! Ah, it's so beautiful ... I could listen to it all day. Ae-ra gets more and more morose as she remembers herself singing with nerdy Jung-woo (oh happy times ...) and starts downing glass after glass of beer. This is not disappointment that she didn't manage to humiliate him - this is genuine sadness over times gone by.

Oh shit. They all sit around the table afterwards and that stupid team-bunny asks Jung-woo why he isn't remarrying - is it true he got completely burned by his previous wife? Everybody else is WTF is she asking, but Jung-woo simply smiles and says he doesn't want to talk about his ex. And with a glance at her ... she isn't worth talking about. Bastard. Just think you stepped on poop, chirps the team-bunny. Can we please all collectively kick her pretty but needy ass?

That's IT for Ae-ra! She says you always need to listen to both sides - she has heard that his ex-wife labored really hard to support him when he was still a nobody. What he has now is due to her. And she heard it from someone who knows her really well: that ex-wife is pitiful. And outraged. The employees whisper that it must be true then, but the CEO dismisses it as a mere rumor: That woman has no right to say this. Dang: now he's just nasty again!

He and Second Lead get up to leave (they do look good together I must admit), but Ae-ra staggers after him - and throws up on him. Seriously ... WHY do they always throw up on each other?! Is this some substitute for sex? (Bodily fluids, hint, hint?) Jung-woo is furious afterwards in the car ... and also a bit worried. And he remembers those good times as well. Good times with her throwing up into her bag in the taxi.

History is (almost) repeating itself elsewhere, but when Luscious Lips Seung-Hyun offers her a bag to throw up in, she pushes it aside. She will not throw up again. She passes out though and he carefully places her head on his shoulder. Oh my sweet boy ... I do not want your heart to get broken. I just don't think this noona is for you.

Trouble at the rice-soup restaurant! There's a lot of people wanting to eat there since the place has become part of Jung-woo's company's network. One costumer overhears her mother chastise her father for pulling out a plug to the refrigerator (he wanted to blowdry his hair, the useless nincompoop) - and whoops! There he is, the sleazy costumer, in the hospital, with a stomach ache and a rash all over his body. And he is demanding to see the CEO. Also going to the hospital ... the useless Na family, the less useless Na Ae-ra, and Jung-woo. Who heard from her team-leader.

In front of the hospital room, Jung-woo witnesses an ugly fight between Ae-ra and her mother. Ae-ra has begged her family to stay away, and has told them that she constantly worries what her brother and father will do next. If they don't go, she's ready to break ties with them. Her mother slaps her for this insult and is beside herself over it. Ae-ra's team-leader also comes and insults her. Jung-woo doesn't look happy at all over this.

Back inside the patient's room, Ae-ra is kneeling and apologizing again. The patient is only interested in the CEO though. If he doesn't come, he'll tell the press about this incident. Ae-ra grabs his arm and begs him to reconsider. The patient rips himself free and ... throws the full glass of water he had in his hand into Jung-woo's face. How can someone look so extremely sexy with water pouring down his face?! O___o

He orders Ae-ra outside. When he's like this, he is irresistably sexy. Of course, he will settle it all - looking even hotter than usual with his dislocated hair. He is extremely professional, telling her father not to worry, this will be fine, and not even saying one harsh word to Ae-ra. On the ground floor, he tells his secretary to investigate this patient further (something seems fishy) only to then realize that he has completely forgotten Second Lead's birthday party. Ouch.

She is all dressed up and sad but her face lights up when he calls. He is coming over - even though it's already very late. And then, he starts changing in the car. YES!

After what happened at the hospital, Na Ae-ra is starting to regret the ugliness between her and her ex husband. But her man is currently being snatched away by Second Lead. Though ... so shy. Both of them. I can't help it - Second Lead is winning my heart. She isn't bitchy at all anymore: she likes Ae-ra and she is very much in love with Jung-woo. Awwwwww.

Oh my ... he gives her a VERY pricey necklace as a gift. Or rather ... his secretary got that for him, but still. They are awkward. Like two teenagers that are alone in a room with a species of the other sex for the first time. It seems Jung-woo doesn't know about her past at all? More flashbacks to Second Lead's
trauma. We see the wedding, and the accident again. And we see that she
lost her right leg in the accident (uhm .... well. Never mind). And that she nearly went insane
afterwards. It was him that shook her out of it.

L-secretary has investigated and found out that the person in the hospital has been compensated for eating bad food before. And since nobody else that ate at the rice-soup restaurant got sick that day, it seems the guy is more than just fishy. But they have no evidence. But they have suits! Oh. My. God. The suits!

But there is evidence! Ae-ra's brother filmed everything that day and on the tape, they can clearly see that the person in the hospital didn't even eat anything that day! He had to leave early and left without even a sip of the soup. Thus, everything is resolved nicely, Ae-ra and her mother make up, and incredibly cute Luscious Lips is kinda accepted into her family. Cute. He is so cute. Jung-woo seems relieved too ... and it's quite clear he cannot stop thinking about his Ex now. So doomed.

Luscious and Jung-woo play basketball together. So how did Jung-woo know that there might be a video? Oh, so it was him! He doesn't answer, but it's because he heard them talk about it at the hospital, right? Or because he knows his brother-in-law so well? Anyway, Seung-Hyun is thankful to him because he got to eat with that family again ... that incredibly noisy family. He really likes them. There's only thoughtful sadness on Jung-woo's face when he hears the young man talk about them - and I begin to realize that this drama is doing it right ... quite right. It may be funny and it has made me laugh, but in this episode, it tugs at my heartstrings.

Ae-ra is in bed and remembers times they had together ... and frankly, she remembers times in which she was quite a difficult person in my opinion. Demanding, bitchy, you name it. And in her memory, he was so insecure and so devoted to her.

The next day, they meet in the elevator again. The atmosphere is quite different this time ... they are no longer in the mood to be mean to each other. And when she sees a thread on his jacket, she picks it off and then brushes the rest off with her hand. The other people in the elevator gasp. She realizes where she is and what she has just done and stammers an excuse, about his reputation and stuff. He thanks her, quite civil, and when he leaves, he drops a small folded note. Oh ...

She opens it, all curious and a little bit excited, but ... it's just a receipt. For an Americano. Mean, show. Mean.

Ae-ra's brother brings her bone-marrow soup made by their mother to give to Jung-woo as a thank-you gift. She doesn't want to give it to him, but then, her brother tells him that it was all due to Jung-woo that they were able to expose the conman: he told them to look through the video footage. She also overhears that Jung-woo is still at the company, doing overtime - or rather, doing genius programming, cause he's a genius.

She texts him to come to the rooftop - she has something to say. He goes ... and Second Lead sees him leave. Up there, he repeats the silliness of calling her across the roof. Why hasn't he told her that HE was the one who told her brother and Luscious to check the video? Does he have to tell a mere intern anything, he replies. She was thankful at the hospital, she adds - that gets him to turn his head. And she adds that she is sorry ... as an employee who caused trouble. That's nothing, really, is his slightly embarrassed answer. And she is sorry for many things all this time, too. For the car. The pictures. The lilies. But don't worry: she will leave after the internship is over. Good, he says, he hopes he can trust her ... and leaves the rooftop.

But a loud "Ya!" from her gets him back real quick and now, she is just shouting at him. Is that all he has to say to somebody who is sorry? Did she ever lie to him? Oh yes ... she did. She said she loved Cha Jung-woo, but she only wanted a man that who passed the civil servant exam. She said she would be happy marrying him, but she only liked his circumstances that gave her stability. Those are her lies - or weren't they?

He lied too! she shouts. He said he would never start a business or invest in stocks. And what did he do? How can anyone love without circumstances? And she walks over to where he is standing - a symbolical closing of the distance between them. No escape, man! Did she like the circumstances he had? Of course! He was smart, humble, had a stable job - and on top of that, she liked Cha Jung-woo that only loved her. Yes - all of those were the circumstances that made her like him.

Anyway, we made a promise, he says - and you dumped me when that promise lost its appeal. Well, is her reply: a promise should have been kept by both sides. He broke their ordinary happiness. Isn't it good enough for him that he succeeded like this thanks to it? Does he really have to resent her? She lost the confidence back then to be happy and to make him happy. When they were together, it was double the sadness and double the poverty. Even if it's already broken, please do not insult her sincerity that she gave him.Sincerity? he asks back. She was insulted and she is miserable? Does she even know how hard it was for him, how much she hurt him? Now they're both crying and ... well. It's really touching. She nods her head and says yes, it must have really hurt. She is sorry. She walks away and he just stands there, crying, but she comes back ... with the soup. She deposits it next to his wonderful shoes, saying she has a crazy mother who does something like this for her divorced son-in-law and waltzes off again. Heart-break.

The camera moves back, and there stands Second Lead ... she has heard it all.

Comments

Hurting each other has lost its appeal - the truth has come out. At least in part. I am very glad we're at that point - though I will miss the petty shenanigans. They were fun. Both said what needed to be said, voicing their grievances. She has not yet got an acknowledgment of what she did for him, at lest not directly - but he got his "I am sorry I hurt you". And he is realizing that he was wrong about the part where he convinced himself she never loved him. That would have made it easier to cope, somehow, because it would justify hating her. Her reasons for breaking up make perfect sense - and he will have to admit it to himself.

And I want to apologize to this drama for thinking it was going all cliché on us with the Second Lead; I was wrong. She is a highly vulnerable, quite upright person, despite her terrible father. A part of me actually ships her with Jung-woo. They are perfect for each other - if only he wasn't caught in the past. I love that this show manages to show us his insecurity so often. He drops his guard with his Secretary, sometimes a little bit with Luscious Lips - and during that scene with Second Lead in her room. He is just an adorable dork underneath his perfect CEO-exterior. I want to say that's the real Joo Sang-wook - the eternal chatterbox with great humor.
I must say, I'm quite curious to see where we are going now. Second Lead knows about their past now, and thus, she also understands why she cannot win this man over. Will she turn into a bitch now? We know she has a bitchy side. Luscious Lips is already deeply fallen in love, but not necessarily with Ae-ra (the way he looks at her! *swoooooon*), but more with what she represents. Her (terrible) family seems like paradise to him, a rich kid who experienced how his mother was driven away by his strict and overbearing father. Drama, this guy is really well cast. Thank you for making me discover him through you!